The economy class in an airplane is called steerage even though passengers
do not have to steer the jumbo jet. That’s because earlier the lowest deck
on a ship was the cheapest. It was called steerage because it was located
above the steerage gear.

These days you may not board a boat for years, but chances are you use
nautical terminology every day. When you say that someone is “adrift” or
“unmoored”, when you are “taken aback”, when you find someone is “under
the weather” -- in all cases, you are invoking nautical lingo.

This week we’ll see five terms of nautical origins, now used metaphorically.

Enough talking! All aboard! Let’s get under way.

copper-bottomed

PRONUNCIATION:

(kop-uhr-BOT-uhmd)

MEANING:

adjective: Reliable, genuine, or trustworthy.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the practice of covering a ship’s hull with copper (or alloy) to
protect it from salt water and marine organisms. Earliest documented use:
1795. Don’t confuse this term with copperplate.

USAGE:

“In those circumstances, even copper-bottomed facts become contentious.”
Alex Massie; Breaking News: There Are Such Things as Facts; The Times
(London, UK); Feb 22, 2017.

It is a convenient trick to rob a person of all they have, even their own
body, and then mock them for their poverty, and blame it on their nature.
-Adam Serwer, writer and editor
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